Minority MPs can’t reject Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees – Ayikoi Otoo

A former Attorney General, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, has suggested none of the ministers designated for the various ministerial portfolios being vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament will be disqualified.

He argued on 3FM’s Sunrise morning show Wednesday that the work of the Committee is a mere procedure, and lacked the wherewithal to disqualify any of the ministerial nominees, hence the public should not put much faith in the Committee.

The legal practitioner premised his argument on the fact that the report of the Committee will be presented to the entire parliament for consideration and where necessary, a vote cast to decide whether to reject a nominee or otherwise.

“Don’t put too much faith into the vetting. Let me remind you that the Committee is a sub-committee of the House, as such, whatever report they have will be debated at the plenary or on the floor of Parliament and there is voting. Therefore there is no way any nominee of the NPP will be defeated,” he told 3FM.

He added “… I don’t take this vetting serious because at the end of the exercise the committee will present a report to the House and the votes will decide who gets approved”.

For him, considering the number of majority members in the House, “it’s clear that the minority will have a say but the majority will certainly have its way.”

“What happened to former Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Oti Bless and the rest? What happened when they [minority at the time] had issues with them?” he queried.

“So am assuring you that they [ministerial nominees] will all be passed at the plenary session because they [the minority] don’t have the numbers to stop them so they should stop wasting our time,” said.

But Mr Ayikoi Otoo expressed the hope that as the country develops in democracy, its parliament would also mature to the extent that people will “be bold enough to vote on issues and not along party lines.”